Victim’s family angry after killer gets unsupervised leave

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Virginia Beach, Va. - Being deemed insane is what got Aaron Patterson out of jail for murdering his neighbor Keith Chapin.

He was sent to Eastern State Hospital; now the restrictions are easing on Patterson.
He's set to get out and do whatever he wants, unsupervised, once a week.

"Where anything could happen and as before any trigger could offset this person," Billy Mittlestadt, Chapin's uncle.

Chapin was home Christmas night 2009 at his Ocean Lakes home. Patterson lived next door and went over to Chapin's house to ask for a beer. Chapin obliged, but wouldn't let Patterson into his home.

This angered Patterson, so he shot Chapin multiple times then shot Chapin's brother Jonathan, who fortunately was able to survive.

"There's a lot of unsettled questions here, and I think more has to be taken into consideration than just what this individual wants," Mittlestadt said.

Patterson is currently in Williamsburg at Eastern State Hospital. He'll soon be out for 12 hours unsupervised four times a month. The court ruled he was insane and when he shot Chapin, he couldn't tell between right and wrong.

"Maybe out but he must be supervised," Mittlestadt said. "I cannot understand how anyone could allow this person that's taken another life and injured my nephew is allowed to go unsupervised for any amount of time.

23 comments

The Don

He played the system…he is a crazy criminal and should be locked away for good. Unreal how this has turned out. ..mental health issue plus being stupid makes it ok to kill someone…way to go state of VA , now u let him out for 12hrs a week to do what ?? Kill again ??!!!

lorrie

he should never be allowed out whether crazy or not a life was lost and many lives are hurting because of this man to be out whether an hour or 12 hours is ridiculous!The person who allowed this is crazy too check their mental info.

Margaret

I still don’t know how they deemed him insane. He chose to go off his medicine. He chose to kill. How is that insane. He made those decisions himself. Now he can walk the streets once a week. Maybe the doctor who is treating him needs to be locked up. He will only come out to stop taking medicine again and do the same thing. I think even if you have a mental illness and you kill you should be locked up forever. I feel the same way if you kill and don’t have a illness. Keep him locked up forever. We lost Keith forever and his brother has to live with all of this forever. His whole family has to relive this every Christmas and it doesn’t get any easier.

He didn’t know right from wrong. But he knew getting a beer was the “right” thing to satisfy his beer thirst. He knew that something was “wrong” if your neighbor was afraid to let you into his house. He knew that the “right” way to quickly hurt or kill someone was to fire a gun at them. I’d say he knew plenty about right and wrong.

Honestly....

When is this country going to choose the rights of the many over the rights of a few? What’s more important, the civil rights of a dangerous, insane violent criminal, or the rights of hundreds of innocent potential victims….*cough, cough*….er, people?

Roger

Mark Fogg

And the monster has a facebook page! Words cannot convey the disgust I feel when I see the pics posted on his page of his daughter by the Christmas tree, when he murdered Keith and shot his brother next to theirs. And if the monster had decided to cross the street a half-hour or so earlier, he would’ve shot many more people who were there celebrating Christmas with family but had left shortly before. And he didn’t even KNOW them! So how safe is ANYBODY near this killer? This THING should have been locked up in prison years ago, but if he’s sick then he should remain locked up forever with the sicko’s. MONSTER! MURDERER!

mike cummings

Krista

This is absolutely sickening! This murderer should NEVER be allowed out in society! He killed a great man for no reason! He needs to suffer consequences for his actions not be allowed out in public!!! Our justice system is a joke! This is unbelievable! So angry right now….RIP Keith xoxo

Justice

Clearly there is no justice for this family. I have always detested the reason of insanity defense. It allows for people to play the system and then get out when they are “sane” again. We need better mentally ill controls in this country.

LOCAL MUSIC SUPPORTER

he also has his own you tube account, rapping and including lyrics that we find all too eerily close to the murder…. Our friend was a musician who was silenced by this man’s actions, but he gets to enjoy life when our friend is dead? This is not right!!!

I’m sorry, but the entire insanity plea is just wrong. I don’t care if someone is deemed legally insane or not. If they kill someone they are still killers and should not be able to get out of jail or the mental hospital. They still did the crime and they need to do the time.